6 Proven Ways to Save Time in Your Business Without Having a Large Team

You don’t have enough hours in a day if you’re an entrepreneur or a small business owner. When you complete one task, it seems like a hundred more pop up. Constantly trying to stay on top of tasks is a perfect recipe for burnout and stress. You’re not operating at your best if you’re experiencing burnout and stress. We’ve been there, so we’ve devised six proven ways to save time in your business without a large team. 

1. Outsource 

Many small business owners and entrepreneurs are reluctant to outsource. They have difficulty giving up control of any part of their business and prefer to do every task themselves.

Unfortunately, scaling your business is nearly impossible if you’re doing every task yourself. 

There are tons of advantages of outsourcing.

Deskera says, “Small business outsourcing allows you to control costs, increase efficiency, and focus on areas of your business that you enjoy and are good at.”

As a business owner and CEO, you’re supposed to spend most of your time in your zone of genius. 

As Alice Heimann puts it, “The zone of genius is your unique gift—what you bring to your work that no one else can offer. It’s where your talents and your passions intersect.”

Heimann says if you spend most of your time working in your zone of genius, you’ll feel more empowered, achieve more, and inspire those around you. 

You’ll have to figure out your specific zone of genius, but we can give you a few examples.

If you’re a freelance writer, your zone of genius may be writing blog posts, emails, or whatever writing services you offer.

On the other hand, if you’re a graphic designer, you may want to spend most of your time making graphics.

If you notice that you’re spending less and less time operating in your zone of genius, it’s time to outsource. 

Outsourcing will save you so much time, and you’ll be better able to have a work-life balance. 

How to Outsource

You probably can’t hire a large team right now as a small business owner. However, you can still benefit from outsourcing with few employees.

Before you hire anyone, think about which tasks are:

• Time-consuming
• Unpleasant to do
• Hard to do
• Important 

If you still need to decide what to outsource, Deskera has some ideas. 

According to Deskera, small businesses commonly outsource:

• Accounting
• Search Engine Optimization 
• Information Technology (IT)
• Hiring, recruitment, and Personnel Management
• Customer support
• Logistics
• Web design
• Digital Marketing

If you realize that accounting is not your forte, think about finding a trusted accountant to take over. 

On the other hand, if you’re not great at writing blog posts or falling behind on email marketing, you can hire someone to take these tasks over.

Fortunately, you may not need someone working 8 hours daily for you. 

For example, you can commission a freelance writer to write and publish 4-8 monthly blogs at a fixed rate. 

You can also pay a social media manager to schedule 3 months of content for you for a flat rate. 

Hiring one or two freelancers can free up so much of your time if you’re starting out. 

You can find freelancers by searching:

• LinkedIn
• Upwork
• Fiverr

In addition, you can ask your network to make recommendations. Other small business owners in your network are outsourcing.

Once you’ve compiled a list of potential freelancers or employees, take a little time to chat with them and make sure they’re a good fit.

If you need someone to do 40 hours per week, a freelancer is probably not who you’re looking for.

Once you’ve hired them, remember to be respectful and communicate well. 

Being a great person to work for will help your business; trust us. 

2. Get Organized

If you’re always busy and struggling to finish tasks, chances are you need to be more organized.

Being organized is a great way to stay on top of your tasks and get them done.

In addition, being organized means you’ll spend less time looking for things you need to complete your work or run your business. 

You’ll save time in your business by being organized. 

Here are some ways to get organized and save time as a small business owner:

• Make a list of your tasks. You can use good old-fashioned pen and paper or opt for something more digital. Once you write your to-do list, include a time to get it done and stick to it. 
• Prioritize your tasks and complete the most important ones first.
• Be realistic about the tasks you can complete in a day to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed, discouraged, and ultimately procrastinating.
• Create a content calendar to stay on top of social media content. 
• Use a calendar like Google Calendar to schedule meetings, important dates, and due dates.
• Keep essential documents in folders and store them in a cloud like Google Drive. 

Nate Huskins, founder, and president of Marshal Group LLC and Export U.S. Autos, gave great insight in their Forbes article on how to be organized as a business owner. 

Huskins suggests devoting certain days to specific tasks.

For example, you may only take meetings on Thursdays or work on your social media content on Mondays.

Some entrepreneurs take one day a week to work in their business, which means they answer emails, schedule meetings, and content, or do whatever they need to do. 

Figure out the best way to stay organized and on top of your tasks and watch your hours free up. 

3. Use Software and Tools

We are huge fans of various software and tools that make being a business owner so much easier. Finding the right software and tools can help you be organized and save time in your business without having a large team.

Here are some software and tools that can save you time:

• Quickbooks- This accounting software helps you track income and expenses, send invoices, and connect directly to your bank. During tax time, you don’t have to scramble; you’ll save so much time with this tool. 
• Canva- This tool allows you to create ebooks, presentations, social media graphics, and more with ready-made templates. You can save so much time using a tool like this.
• Tube Buddy- If you have a YouTube channel, Tube Buddy is a valuable tool. It’s a free Google Chrome extension that helps you run your track and save time. 
• Basecamp- This is a project management software that can help you manage all the tasks of your business. You can also add any team member or freelancer to it so they can see their tasks and instructions. 
• ClickUp-If you want to explore another project management, we recommend ClickUp.
• Google Workspace- As a small business owner, Google Workspace is your best friend. You can get a custom email for your business and access Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other helpful tools in the Workspace.
• Mailerlite- You need email marketing software if you have a small business. We recommend Mailerlite because that’s the software we use to deliver our emails. 
• Buffer-If you need a tool to schedule your social media posts, you can check out Buffer. Just connect your social media accounts. 

4. Batch Tasks

We believe in batching work to save time and stay on top of your business tasks.

According to Asana, “As you work through a group of batched tasks, you can avoid thinking about or working on any other task that’s not in that group.”

Task batching can also help you stop procrastinating and multitasking and actually finish your work. 

Even though multitasking may seem like a good idea to get things done, it is not!

Asana says it can take an average of 23 minutes to focus back in after a distraction. 

Therefore multitasking is actually wasting your time instead of saving your time.

When it comes to effectively batching tasks, Asana recommends categorizing your tasks every day and blocking off enough time to do them. Don’t check your phone or do anything besides the scheduled tasks during these time blocks.

You set aside time to create social media posts, emails, and blog posts, answer emails, and take breaks. 

5. Automate

Automation is a must if you want to save time in your business without a large team.

There are several ways you can utilize automation in your business.

For example, instead of manually sending every customer an email to get customer reviews, you can set up automation on your email marketing software. Therefore, every customer that purchases from your online store will get an email asking for a review.

Another excellent automation is a welcome email that goes out to everyone subscribing to your email list. Your welcome email should welcome your new subscriber, but it can also include resources or products they may like. 

If you’re unsure how to automate emails for your email marketing software, you can search YouTube or follow the instructions on the site.

Another automation you can set up is payment reminders. Many accounting software that generates invoices automatically sends a reminder to people who still need to pay you. You won’t have to waste time chasing clients for payment.

When deciding what to automate, you’ll have to think about the needs of your company and repetitive tasks that may be taking up your time.

Besides customer reviews requests and payment reminders, automation can help onboard new clients, expense tracking, and more. You can also find tools that help you automate, such as Zapier.

6. Repurpose Content 

Repurposing content is one of the best ways to save time in your business. 

If you’re not repurposing content, you’ll spend much more time developing ideas and creating content. 

Repurposing content goes beyond screenshotting your tweets and posting them on Instagram. 

Instead, repurposing content involves taking a snippet of your YouTube video and turning it into a Reel. Another example is turning your blog posts into emails, Facebook, or LinkedIn posts.

By doing that, you’re introducing your content to a new platform. Your email subscribers may not necessarily follow your blog. Therefore, by sending snippets of the blog in your email, they’re getting access to the content. 

We recommend repurposing your evergreen content since the information is always relevant and valuable to your audience no matter when or where you post it. 

If you need help with content repurposing, check out our 5-day content repurposing challenge on our membership platform. We interviewed experts and have resources to help you start repurposing your content effectively immediately. You can cancel your membership anytime, but we’re confident you’ll want to stay. 

Conclusion 

Running a business keeps you busy. However, if you feel like you’re running on a hamster wheel and don’t have enough time to work in your zone of genius, it’s time to look for time-saving techniques. You don’t have to implement everything overnight. Pick one time-saving method and see how it works for you. We hope you find the work-life balance and success you’re craving.